Countering violence in war-torn Yemen

Credit: Search for Common Ground

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“When you sleep at night, you just think: ‘Maybe I will wake up. Maybe I will not,’” says Shoqi Maktary, Search For Common Ground’s Yemen Country Director. The war in Yemen is one of the most underreported humanitarian crises in the world today. The small country on the Arabian Peninsula, packed with 27.5 million people, is suffering from a civil war that’s now a proxy for others. Over a million people have fled their homes. "People can’t access the basics they need to survive,” says Maktary. Millions lack water, medicine, or shelter.  Beyond the immediate mayhem caused by the fighting, the war has also deepened existing divisions and created new ones between Sunni and Shi'a, refugees and host communities. "I worry the violence is creating a new generation of young people who'll grow up with this hatred for each other," warns Maktary. (You can read here a Reuters article on the war and what can be done.)  In Yemen, most people accept violence as an appropriate way to handle certain disputes. It is common practice to discipline children at home and at school, using violence. War has exposed this everyday violence for what it is.  Search for Common Ground, a charity which partners with people across African, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA to end violent conflict is trying to change this. Their team works closely with women, educators, migrants, young people and the media to develop a culture of respect, human rights and constructive problem-solving.   They have launched a peace-in-school program last year, training over 900 teachers, partners and government officials to understand the effects on violence on children's development. Their ability to resolve conflicts without violence has increased by 50%. Teachers tell stories about how students once triggered them to resort to violent punishment, but now the same behavior prompts them to discover why the kids are acting out. They say that they are committed to "break the stick." One teacher, Khaled, explains: "This training comes at a time when the school environment and community as a whole are overwhelmed with violence.  We were in desperate need for such training." Seeing the impact of the program, Yemen's Ministry of Education now wants their entire staff to take the training, which might lead to conflict resolution curricula in every school. Maybe these children will build a better future for their country...

What drives young Syrians into ISIS?

Young Syrian refugees in Lebanon/Russell Watkins DFID

More than ideologies, it is poverty, desperation and desire for revenge that drive young Syrians into extremist groups.

A new study by the peacebuilding NGO International Alert shows that the key factors that push young Syrians into joining extremist groups are the need to earn a basic living, regain a sense of purpose and dignity, and the belief in a moral duty to protect, avenge and defend their people.

The study, titled Why young Syrians choose to fight: Vulnerability to recruitment by violent extremist groups, draws on interviews with 311 young Syrians, their families and community members in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, to understand what drives both vulnerability and resilience to recruitment by the groups ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria).

Adolescent boys and young men between the ages of 12 and 24 were found to be most at risk, along with children and young adults not in education, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees without supportive family structures and networks.

The findings suggest that radicalisation is not an explanation for joining a violent extremist group per se. For many young Syrians, belief in extreme ideologies appears to be, at most, a secondary factor in the initial decision to join an extremist group. 

Instead, vulnerability is driven by a combination of extreme trauma, loss and displacement, lack of alternative ways to make a decent living, the collapse of social structures and institutions including education, and the desire to get revenge against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. According to respondents, armed groups also provide a strong sense of purpose, honour and self-worth.

As one young Syrian man in Lebanon said: “People can find a new meaning to their life in extremism. Extremism opens a door to a new life where they are wanted.”

In Syria more than 6,000 schools are out of use, having been attacked, occupied by the military or turned into an emergency shelter. The collapse of the education system, with some two million children out of school, has also greatly contributed to young people’s vulnerability to joining violent extremist groups, who are filling this gap by providing their own forms of education, the report says. These ‘schools’ are highly segregated, exploit sectarian divisions and support divisive narratives.

UNICEF, which today unveiled details of a major new fund (Education Cannot Wait) to help get children back in class during emergencies, also stresses the crucial role of education in countries affected by wars and disasters.  

"Education changes lives in emergencies," said Josephine Bourne, UNICEF's education chief, in a statement. "Going to school keeps children safe from abuses like trafficking and recruitment into armed groups."

Yet, only 2 percent of global humanitarian appeals are on average dedicated to education.  "It is time education is prioritised by the international community as an essential part of basic humanitarian response, alongside water, food and shelter," Bourne added.

Offering comprehensive, inclusive and quality education, which also incorporates trauma healing and psychosocial support, was one of the four key factors identified by the report that can prevent recruitment.  The others were: providing alternative sources of livelihood, better access to positive social groups and institutions, and avenues for exercising non-violent activism.

The report stresses the need to integrate these social cohesion efforts into humanitarian aid projects, regional policy objectives and diplomacy aiming to reduce discrimination against refugees, which can also drive recruitment.

Note: The study was conducted five years into the conflict in Syria, which has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives, displaced 6.5 million people internally and prompted 4.8 million people to flee to neighbouring countries. 

You can find out more about International Alert's work in Syria here.